Method for predicting an image

ABSTRACT

In the method for predicting an image, a current image block is predicted using first and second image blocks, temporal information for a current picture and at least one reference picture related to one of the first and second image blocks.

DOMESTIC PRIORITY INFORMATION

This is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/335,331 filed Dec. 31, 2002; the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FOREIGN PRIORITY INFORMATION

The present invention claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 on Korean Application No. 10-2002-0019262 filed Apr. 9, 2002 and Korean Application No. 10-2002-0072862 filed Nov. 21, 2002; the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a moving picture coding system.

2. Description of the Background Art

A moving picture coding system is able to have higher coding efficiency with a B picture (a predicted image that may be based on the motion vectors) than the coding efficiency when using only P pictures (a predicted image based on one motion vector).

For the B picture, the block prediction method for a direct mode involves calculating a forward motion vector and a backward motion vector as scaled versions of a motion vector of a co-located block in a backward reference picture for direct mode, to then obtain two distinct motion-compensated blocks using the forward and backward motion vectors, respectively. A predicted block is then obtained by averaging the two motion-compensated blocks.

The block prediction method for the direct mode as described above will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a picture pattern for describing the block prediction method for the direct mode according to the conventional art. The picture pattern comprises an I-picture (not shown) coded using prediction only from decoded samples within the same picture (e.g., intra prediction), P pictures P1, P4, and P7 coded by inter prediction using at most one motion vector from previously-decoded reference pictures, and B-pictures B2, B3, B5 and B6 coded by two inter prediction blocks from previously-decoded reference pictures.

Also, parameters shown in FIG. 1 will first be described first for the sake of convenience. TR_(D) represents a temporal distance between a forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and a backward reference picture for direct mode (P7), TR_(B) represents a temporal distance between the forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and a current B picture (B5), MV represents a motion vector of a co-located block in the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7), MV_(f) represents a forward motion vector of direct mode pointing to the forward reference picture for direct mode, and MV_(b) represents a backward motion vector of direct mode pointing to the backward reference picture for direct mode. Herein, the forward reference picture for direct mode is a reference picture pointed by the motion vector of the co-located block in the backward reference picture for direct mode.

The block prediction method for direct mode will be described using the above parameters as follows.

First, the forward motion vector of direct mode (MV_(f)) is obtained from a motion vector (MV) of a co-located block B_(s) in the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7) by applying following equation (1). $\begin{matrix} {{MV}_{f} = \frac{{TR}_{B} \times {MV}}{{TR}_{D}}} & (1) \end{matrix}$

In addition, the backward motion vector of direct mode (MV_(b)) is obtained from a motion vector (MV) of the co-located block B_(S) in the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7) by applying following equation (2). $\begin{matrix} {{MV}_{b} = {\left( {{TR}_{B} - {TR}_{D}} \right) \times \frac{MV}{{TR}_{D}}}} & (2) \end{matrix}$

Therefore, blocks B_(f) and B_(b) are motion-compensated using the motion vectors MV_(f) and MV_(b) calculated from equations (1) and (2), and after that, the two blocks are averaged to get a prediction value B_(c)′ of a current block B_(c) in the B picture as following equation (3). $\begin{matrix} {B_{c}^{\prime} = \frac{B_{f} + B_{b}}{2}} & (3) \end{matrix}$

However, according to the block prediction method for the direct mode of the conventional art, the forward motion vector of direct mode is obtained from the motion vector of the co-located block in the backward reference picture for direct mode, and therefore, the obtained value is just an approximated value, not a precise motion vector of the current block of the B picture.

Also, according to the block prediction method for direct mode of the conventional art, even though the reference picture temporally close to the B picture has higher similarity with the B picture, the block prediction is made using the average of two distinct motion-compensated blocks without considering temporal distance between the reference pictures. Therefore, the accuracy of predicted block is lowered.

Especially, in a sequence having a fading scene, since brightness of continuous B pictures can be gradually darkened or gradually lightened, the prediction value obtained by simply averaging two motion-compensated blocks can differ significantly from the original value, and thereby the coding efficiency of the entire system is greatly lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for predicting an image.

In one embodiment, a current image block is predicted using first and second image blocks, temporal information for a current picture and temporal information for at least one reference picture related to one of the first and second image blocks.

For example, the predicting step may predict the current image block using the first and second image blocks and a temporal difference between the current picture and the reference picture.

In another embodiment, the predicting step predicts the current image block based on a weighted combination of the first and second image blocks. Here, a weight applied to one of the first and second image blocks may be based on the temporal difference between the current picture and the reference picture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view showing a picture pattern for describing a block prediction method for direct mode according to the conventional art;

FIG. 2 is a view showing a picture pattern for describing a block prediction method according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a picture pattern for describing an interpolative prediction method according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a view showing a picture pattern for describing an interpolative prediction method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the example embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In a block prediction method, for example in a direct mode, according to the present invention, a forward motion vector and a backward motion vector of a direct mode may be calculated from a motion vector of a co-located block in a backward reference picture for direct mode. Then, two motion-compensated blocks are obtained using the above motion vectors, and a predicted block is obtained by interpolation using the two motion-compensated blocks.

Also, in the block prediction method according to the present invention, the backward motion vector may be calculated from the backward reference picture for direct mode, a forward motion vector of direct mode may be calculated from the reference picture closest to the current B picture among the forward reference pictures, motion-compensated blocks may be obtained from the above motion vectors, and a predicted block may be obtained by interpolation using the two motion-compensated blocks.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to accompanying Figures as follows.

FIG. 2 shows a picture pattern for describing the block prediction method for direct mode according to the present invention. The picture pattern comprises an I-picture (not shown) coded using prediction only from decoded samples within the same picture, P pictures P1, P4, and P7 coded by inter prediction using at most one motion vector from previously-decoded reference pictures, and B-pictures B2, B3, B5 and B6 coded by two inter prediction blocks from previously-decoded reference pictures.

Parameters shown in FIG. 2 will be described first for the sake of convenience. TR_(D) represents a temporal distance between a forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and a backward reference picture for direct mode (P7), TR_(B) represents a temporal distance between the forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and a current B picture (B5), TR_(N) represents a temporal distance between the reference picture (P4) closest to the current B picture and the current B picture (B5), MV represents a motion vector of a co-located block in the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7), MV_(f)′ represents a forward motion vector of direct mode pointing to the reference picture (P4) closest to the current B picture, and MV_(B) represents a backward motion vector of direct mode pointing to the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7).

The motion vector (MV) of the co-located block B_(S) in the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7) is established in the process of coding (or decoding) the backward reference picture for direct mode before the current B picture is coded (or decoded).

The block prediction method for direct mode as constructed above according to the present invention will be described as follows.

The forward motion vector (MV_(f)′), which points to the reference picture (P4) having the closest temporal distance among the forward reference pictures, is obtained from following equation (4). $\begin{matrix} {{MV}_{f}^{\prime} = \frac{{TR}_{N} \times {MV}}{{TR}_{D}}} & (4) \end{matrix}$

In addition, the backward motion vector (MV_(b)), which points to the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7), is obtained according to the conventional art using equation (2) reproduced below. $\begin{matrix} {{MV}_{b} = {\left( {{TR}_{B} - {TR}_{D}} \right) \times \frac{MV}{{TR}_{D}}}} & (2) \end{matrix}$

Accordingly, motion-compensated blocks B_(f) and B_(b) are obtained using the motion vectors MV_(f)′ and MV_(b) calculated in the convention manner, but using the motion vectors from equations (2) and (4).

However, the block prediction method according to the present invention may be applied to the example situations in either FIG. 1 or FIG. 2. Therefore, the reference picture in which the motion-compensated block B_(f) exists may be the forward reference picture for direct mode (for example, P1 picture in FIG. 1) or the reference picture closest to the B picture (for example, P4 picture in FIG. 2). It will be appreciated that these are only two example situations, and that the present invention is not limited to these two examples.

The block prediction method according to the present invention performs interpolative prediction considering the temporal distance between the current B picture and the reference picture in which the motion-compensated block B_(f) exists (that is, the forward reference picture for direct mode or the reference picture closest to the B picture in the two example situations of FIGS. 1 and 2), and considering the temporal distance between the current B picture and the backward reference picture for direct mode.

As shown in FIG. 3, if the forward motion vector of direct mode is obtained using the conventional art, the motion-compensated block B_(f) exists in the forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and the motion-compensated block B_(b) exists in the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7). The interpolative prediction is performed according to equation (5) below. Herein, TR_(D) is the temporal distance between the forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7), and TR_(B) is the temporal distance between the forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and the current B picture (B5). As shown in Equation (5), the interpolative predictive method involves taking a weighted average of the two motion-compensated blocks B_(f) and B_(b). The weighting of the motion-compensated block B_(f) is based on the temporal difference between the current picture (B5) and the reference picture (P7), which is related to the motion-compensated block B_(b). The weighting of the motion-compensated block B_(b) is based on the temporal difference between the current picture (B5) and the reference picture (P1), which is related to the motion-compensated block B_(f). Also, as will be appreciated from equation (5), each weight may be expressed as a function of the other weight. $\begin{matrix} {B_{c}^{\prime} = {{B_{f} \times \frac{\left( {{TR}_{D} - {TR}_{B}} \right)}{{TR}_{D}}} + {B_{b} \times \frac{{TR}_{B}}{{TR}_{D}}}}} & (5) \end{matrix}$

Also, FIG. 4 shows the case that the forward motion vector of direct mode is obtained according to the embodiment of the present invention where the motion-compensated block B_(f) exists in the reference picture (P4) closest to the current B picture and the motion-compensated block B_(b) exists in the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7). Therefore, the interpolative prediction is performed as shown in equation (6) below. Herein, TR_(D) is the temporal distance between the forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and the backward reference picture for direct mode (P7), and TR_(B) is the temporal distance between the forward reference picture for direct mode (P1) and the current B picture, and TR_(N) is the temporal distance between the reference picture (P4) closest to the current B picture and the current B picture. $\begin{matrix} {B_{C}^{\prime} = {{B_{f} \times \frac{\left( {{TR}_{D} - {TR}_{B}} \right)}{\left( {{TR}_{N} + {TR}_{D} - {TR}_{B}} \right)}} + {B_{b} \times \frac{{TR}_{N}}{\left( {{TR}_{N} + {TR}_{D} - {TR}_{B}} \right)}}}} & (6) \end{matrix}$

Again, as shown in equation (6), the interpolative predictive method involves taking a weighted average of the two motion-compensated blocks B_(f) and B_(b). The weighting of the motion-compensated block B_(f) is based on the temporal difference between the current picture (B5) and the reference picture (P7), which is related to the motion-compensated block B_(b). The weighting of the motion-compensated block B_(b) is based on the temporal difference between the current picture (B5) and the reference picture (P4), which is related to the motion-compensated block B_(f). Also, as will be appreciated from equation (6), each weight may be expressed as a function of the other weight.

The respective pictures may also be represented or referenced using display order information such as a picture order count. Here, equations (5) and (6) may be represented as equation (7) below using the picture order count values, which are display order information of the respective pictures. Herein, T_(c) is a picture order count value, that is, the display order information allocated to the current B picture; T_(f) is a picture order count value, that is, the display order information allocated to the forward reference picture for direct mode or a picture order count value, that is, the display order information allocated to the reference picture closest to the B picture in case that the forward motion vector is calculated by the equation (4); and T_(b) is a picture order count value, that is, the display order information allocated to the backward reference picture for direct mode. $\begin{matrix} {B_{C}^{\prime} = {{B_{f} \times \frac{\left( {T_{b} - T_{c}} \right)}{\left( {T_{b} - T_{f}} \right)}} + {B_{b} \times \frac{\left( {T_{c} - T_{f}} \right)}{\left( {T_{b} - T_{f}} \right)}}}} & (7) \end{matrix}$

In this example, equation (7) shows that the interpolative prediction method involves taking a weighted average of the two motion-compensated blocks B_(f) and B_(b). Here, the weighting of the motion-compensated block B_(f) is based on the picture order count difference between the picture order count of the current block (B5) and the picture order count of the reference picture (P7) related to the motion-compensated block B_(b); and the weighting of the motion-compensated block B_(b) is based on the picture count difference between the picture order count of the current block (B5) and the picture order count of the reference picture (P1) or (P4) related to the motion compensated block B_(f). Also, as will be appreciated from equation (7), each weight may be expressed as a function of the other weight.

As described above, according to the present invention, the forward motion vector for direct mode is obtained from the motion vector of the co-located block in the backward reference picture for direct mode, and a predicted block of the B picture, which is about to be coded, is obtained by applying interpolative prediction to the motion-compensated block values. Therefore, the coding efficiency is improved.

Also, according to the present invention, the forward motion vector of direct mode may be obtained from the reference picture closest to the B picture which is about to be coded (or decoded) presently and having higher similarity with the B picture. The predicted block of the B picture may then be obtained by applying the interpolative prediction to the blocks which are motion-compensated from the above forward motion vector and backward motion vector. Therefore, the accuracy of the predicted block can be improved and the coding efficiency can be improved.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope, and therefore all changes and modifications, or equivalence are therefore intended to be embraced by the invention. 

1. A method for predicting an image, comprising: predicting a current image block using first and second image blocks, and temporal information for a current picture and temporal information for at least one reference picture related to one of the first and second image blocks.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting step predicts the current image block using the first and second image blocks and a temporal distance between the current picture and the reference picture.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: determining first and second motion vectors for the current image block; and determining the first and second image blocks using the first and second motion vectors, respectively.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first motion vector is a forward motion vector and the second motion vector is a backward motion vector, the first image block is a forward image block and the second image block is backward image block.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the forward image block is a forward motion-compensated image block and the backward image block is a backward motion-compensated image block.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting step predicts the current image block based on a weighted combination of the first and second image blocks, a weight applied to one of the first and second image blocks being based on a temporal distance between the current picture and the reference picture.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein another of the weights is a function of the weight.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: determining first and second motion vectors for the current image block; and determining the first and second image blocks using the first and second motion vectors, respectively.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first motion vector is a forward motion vector and the second motion vector is a backward motion vector, the first image block is a forward image block and the second image block is backward image block.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the forward image block is a forward motion-compensated image block and the backward image block is a backward motion-compensated image block.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting step predicts the current image block based on a weighted combination of the first and second image blocks, a weight applied to one of the first and second image blocks being based on a temporal distance between the current picture and the reference picture.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting step predicts the current image block based on a first function and a second function, the first function being a function of a first weight and the first image block, and the second function being a function of a second weight and the second image block, the first weight being a function of a temporal difference between the current picture and the reference picture, and the second weight being a function of the first weight.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting step predicts the current image block in a direct mode of decoder operation. 